My expat friends, Nana and Justin, sent me a bag of Okinawa Brown Sugar Candy in their last generous shipment of foreign candies. At first I thought that making sugar-flavored candy was strange, but then I realized it’s not that different from honeycandies or straight up shooting honey sticks.

The prettily matte bag was mostly covered in Japanese. I was able to recognize the character for bamboo on the top right corner, but otherwise I had to rely on the English letters to know what it contained.

The back of the bag described them as “Nature’s blessed ‘Okinawa Kokuto (brown sugar)’ made from sugar cane grown in Okinawa”. I think that makes them a regional specialty.

The candies were individually wrapped in plastic that echoed the bamboo motif of the larger bag. They were smooth flat cylinders, like butterscotch hard candies.

The candies and their melt was perfectly smooth on the tongue, with nary an air bubble to break its glossy surface. The flavor was simple – that of dark brown sugar, sweet with a burnt molasses edge to keep it from being cloying.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed such a simple treat. They didn’t taste revolutionary, but if you’ve ever sneaked a pinch of brown sugar while baking or making oatmeal, you’d enjoy these. An OM.

3 responses about “Okinawa Brown Sugar Candy”

Ooh I guess I didn’t make that clear – very glossily melting hard candies. Not at all grainy like maple sugar candies that I’ve had. And thanks for the reminder of another kind of sugar flavored candy!

Interesting! That’s actually not what I expected the candy to be. There is ANOTHER brown sugar Okinawan candy which comes in crystalline form, sort of like rock candy but not on a stick and not horrifyingly synthetic. We are actually going to Okinawa in June so I’ll look for it. And I’m in Thailand right now if you have any requests.

It’s always a challenge to find stuff to send you this time of year, because I’ll be mailing them in the summer and so many things melt!